The Montreal Canadiens and defenseman P.K. Subban were unable to reach an agreement on Friday and went ahead with his salary arbitration hearing, according to reporters in Toronto.
He's the first player - other than special circumstances involving players signing in Europe - to have a hearing since Nashville Predators defenseman Shea Weber in 2011. The two sides nearly always settle beforehand because of the uncertainty about how the arbitrator will rule and because teams don't like to be put in a position of arguing why a player is worth less.
The fact that Subban went to a hearing is appropriate because there are a lot of similarities between his case and Weber's. Both had filed for an $8.5 million award. The Canadiens countered with $5.25 million and in 2011, the Predators proposed a $4.75 million salary.
An arbitrator has leeway to choose between the two numbers - which explains the big gap in positions - and Weber received a record $7.5 million award.
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